Mali Empire and Djenne Figures This site tells about the
Mali Empire and has an interactive map that allows you to compare its
area with those of Ghana and Songhay.

Commentary on Keita(the movie we viewed in class)
This site now includes a substantial clip from the movie itself.

3.1 EPIC of SUNDJATA--Information on several versions of the epic
and their relationship to the story as told in Keita

Map of
Africa showing location of Burkina Faso, the country from which the
movie Keita comes.
(Rest the cursor on the map until an icon appears in the lower right
corner. It will allow you to enlarge the map.)

In the book
In Griot Timemusician
Banning Eyre describes what happened when he learned to play a song
associated with the story of Son-Jara: "Everywhere
I went in the country [Mali], when I took out my guitar and played “Sunjata,”
I made friends." You can download the first chapter of the book here and
find ordering information for the book and CD.

Toumani Diabate Takes a Solo Turn This National Public Radio page
reviews a CD by "the greatest living kora player today . . . Toumani Diabate
of Mali." There are extended samples of the sound of the kora.

Video introduction: The film clip
below is the opening of the film Sundiata - The Heritage of the Griot.
Although the characters' names are slightly different, you will get a sense of
how this living epic is performed. See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQP4gM5Na54.

Episode 1: This
episode states the theme of the poem and leads into an account of creation (from Genesis)
and the origins of Son-Jara's people. Much of this is omitted from our text.

1. Notice the praise names of Son-Jara. He is Nare __________ _____________,
Sorcerer-_____________ ______________, and Biribiriba.

2. Think about ll. 10-11 and read the footnote. What else might these lines mean? Watch
for their reappearance.

The selection from Episode 2
introduces Son-Jara's father, Fata Magan, by tracing his descent from Bilal, a companion
of Muhammad who is said to have been an African. (Compare this with the "begats"
passages in the Bible.) This is one of the poem's many references to Islam. Compare ll.
175-81 and l. 242. A long passage describing the origins of the clans of Ghana (the empire
that preceded that of Mali) is set into this section.

7. Fata Magan descends from Kanu ____________ ____________, who was the grandson of
____________.

In this episode we learn the
origins of Son-Jara's mother, Sugulun Kòndè.

9. Who is Du Kamisa? Who is her nephew?

10. How does the nephew insult and injure Du Kamisa?

11. How does she answer him? How does she transform herself? What does she become?

12. Which general of Son-Jara's descended from the same clan as Dan Mansa Wulundin and
Wulanba? (See p. 2348, l. 467 and n. 8.)

13. What does the proverb "What sitting will not solve, / Travel will
resolve" mean? Watch for its reappearance.

14. The hunters go to the jinn for magical help hunting the buffalo. (Hunters possess
strong occult powers in the world of this poem.) Kola nuts would be the appropriate
sacrifice, since they are important in social and religious rites, but the griot
says these events happened before kola was available, so the hunters use a peanut
(groundnut). What advice does the jinn give the brothers? (According to
the movie Keita, the old woman is
the buffalo, who of course is Du Kamisa. In Keita she refers to Sugulun Kòndè
as her foster daughter.)

15. How does Dan Mansa Wulundin kill the buffalo?

16. How does the king (the nephew--see ll. 408 and 784) react to the buffalo's death?

17. How does the king recognize the hunters who have killed the buffalo? (Notice that
l. 847 calls them by the name of their descendent Tura Magan, whom we will meet later.)

18. What advice do the hunters receive?

19. What reward do the hunters request? Notice that just as descent from Bilal gives
Fata Magan power in Islamic terms, so her family gives Sugulun Kòndè occult powers like
those of Du Kamisa (the buffalo).

32. Who exiles Son-Jara and his family? What advice does Son-Jara receive from his
mother? Notice the proverb with which the episode ends. Notice also that in this culture
full siblings are assumed to be one's helpers, and half-siblings are expected to be
rivals.

Son-Jara goes into exile and
moves from place to place. Dankaran Tuman loses the kingdom to Sumamuru. Sugulun Kòndè
(Sugulun-of-the-Warts) dies.

33. Why do Son-Jara and his family keep having to move from place to place?

34. Who is Sumamuru? ("Susu" is one spelling of a late flowering of the Ghana
empire. The Mali empire succeeded it.) How does Dankaran Tuman (now king) try to placate
him? Who is Dòka the Cat?

35. What is a balaphone? Who has one? (The Cora
Connection site has pictures, a sound clip, and information that
clarifies how the balaphone relates to Sumamuru. Characters' names are
spelled differently, but they are recognizable.)

36. What is Sumamuru like? Notice his praise names.

37. What does Sumamuru do to Dòka the Cat? Why does this affect Son-Jara? What is
Dòka the Cat's new name?

38. What happens to Dankaran Tuman?

39. What kind of king is Sumamuru?

40. Whom does Sumamuru try to bribe to kill Son-Jara? Who is their leader? How
does Son-Jara stop this scheme? (Consider the implications of turning a gift of meat
back into a living animal.)

41. Where does Son-Jara go to live next?

42. Sugulun prays that the shea tree will bear fruit so Son-Jara can make a necessary
sacrifice, and it does. What other prayer of hers is granted?

43. How does Son-Jara persuade Prince Birama to give him land to bury Sugulun?

44. Why is the Boatman Sasagalò willing to help Son-Jara once he knows who he is?
(What moral does this illustrate, and what proverb relates to this?)

45. What happens the first time Son-Jara's army attacks Sumamuru? How are the towns of
Anguish, Resolve, and Sharing founded, and what do they stand for? The reason Son-Jara
cannot yet defeat Sumamuru is that Sumamuru's magical power is too great.

46. What does Sugulun Kulunkan (Son-Jara's full sister, who went into exile with him)
resolve to do? What does she learn? (Notice the Biblical parallels cited in n.2, p. 2380.
The closest parallel is the way Dalilah learns the secret of Samson's strength. The Book
of Judith is in the Apocrypha, considered Biblical by some churches. Judith uses her
beauty to ensnare and kill the Assyrian general and save Jerusalem. Another parallel is
the story of Jael and Sisera in the Book of Judges.)

47. What happens to Sumamuru's relationship with his mother? This removes more of his
magical powers--another example of the importance of mothers in this epic..

48. How does Sugulun Kulunkan get away to tell Son-Jara what she has learned?

49. Why does Sumamuru's nephew Fa-Koli go over to Son-Jara's side? Notice that it is
Fa-Koli who does the things Sugulun Kulunkan has learned must be done to counter
Sumamuru's magical strength.

50. How does Fa-Koli rescue the niece of Son-Jara whom her father sent to marry
Sumamuru?

51. This action provokes a battle, and Sumamuru loses and flees. (Notice that Tura
Magan, mentioned in Episode 3, is one of Son-Jara's generals.) At the end of the episode
Sumamuru is captured, but he still has too much magic to be wounded with a weapon. What
happens to him?

Son-Jara is now king. He
establishes his rule and begins conquering an empire.

52. What happens to Bala Faseke Kuyatè (formerly Dòka the Cat)? Who must carry him?

53. What kind of king is Son-Jara?

54. How is Son-Jara persuaded to allow Tura Magan to lead his army? How does Tura Magan
avenge the Jolof king's insulting suggestion that Son-Jara is only a hunter ("a
runner of dogs"), not a king? These conquests represent the founding of the empire of
Mali.

For more information about the epic and the translation we are reading, see
John William Johnson, ed., The Epic of Son-Jara: A West African Tradition, with Notes, Translation,
And New Introduction By John William Johnson ; Text By Fa-Digi Sisòkò,
(Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1992).